![Robert Kunst, president of Shalom International, holds a globe that labels Israel as Palestine.[Tina Fineberg for The New York Time]](http://www.vinnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/kunst.jpg "kunst")
New York – Of all the slights that have stoked the outrage of vocal supporters of Israel, the one that prompted a makeshift protest in downtown Manhattan on Thursday is undoubtedly the smallest.
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Israel, a nation that could easily fit inside New Jersey, is barely a speck on the aptly named Mini World Globe, a $1 novelty item sold at Target. The only indication on the baseball-size globe that a country is there at all is the accompanying type, which spills into the Mediterranean and through the bordering nations.
It says: Palestine.
Intentional or not, that label provoked Bob Kunst, who runs the Web site DefendJerusalem.net, and a handful of others to lead a protest at Zuccotti Park near ground zero that was heavy on the outsize language that defines so much of the dialogue surrounding the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. “The attack on Israel is happening on many fronts,” said Mr. Kunst, a Floridian who said he schlepped up to New York to publicize his concerns about the mini-globe.
Robert KunstTina Fineberg for The New York Times Robert Kunst, president of Shalom International, holds a globe that labels Israel as Palestine.
He blamed Target, which he said failed to follow through on a promise this week to remove the item from its shelves.
He blamed Devrian Global Industries, the company that is listed as the manufacturer on the item’s box. (The company, which has been criticized before, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.)
He blamed China, the country where the globes are manufactured and one of more than 100 nations that recognizes the State of Palestine (the United States is not among them).
The list went on: President Obama, the United Nations, the European Union, Hamas, the liberals, the Muslims, the Nazis. Mr. Kunst warned that the Holocaust was continuing. He warned that the leaders in the United States cared only about helping terrorists. He repeatedly warned that Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, and Target, the American discount retailer, were engaged in a dangerous conspiracy.
Only a handful of passers-by stopped to listen. Some accepted informational fliers. Others shook their heads and walked off.
Amy Reilly, a spokeswoman for Target, noted that the name Israel did actually appear on the globe, tucked just above Antarctica along with 12 other small countries whose names were numbered on the map and listed separately because of space considerations, including the Netherlands, Croatia and Lebanon.
Nevertheless, Ms. Reilly said, Target had ordered stores to remove the item from shelves following a “small number” of complaints. Any remaining mini-globes brought to the register will automatically trigger a warning to prohibit the sale. “It is not our intention to offend any of our guests, and we apologize,” she said.
Asked whether Target was engaged in a conspiracy with Hamas, Ms. Reilly replied, “Absolutely not.”
I bought this globe for my son and when I noticed it said palistine instead of Israel and then Israel in the footnotes I was very upset I was going to call the company to let them know that there is no country called palistine. But my husband said it wouldn’t do anything. so I didn’t.
This quote:
“Amy Reilly, a spokeswoman for Target, noted that the name Israel did actually appear on the globe, tucked just above Antarctica along with 12 other small countries whose names were numbered on the map and listed separately because of space considerations, including the Netherlands, Croatia and Lebanon”
means this quote:
” The only indication on the baseball-size globe that a country is there at all is the accompanying type, which spills into the Mediterranean and through the bordering nations.
It says: Palestine. “
is a lie and yellow journalism.
If Israel is named on the map and there already is a recognized Palestinian Authority, it’s not like they wiped Israel off the map and replaced it with Hamas and “Palestine”.
It seems BOTH Israel and “Palestine” are there. Yes, there is no state known as “Palestine” nor was there ever one in history. But the protesters still seem a bit extreme, here.
Ithink it was just a typo and it meant to have said Phillistine, meaning the country of the ancient Plishtim and Goliath. Just as they perished and nothing remains of them other than their name, so may all of our enemies perish in our day.
Again, “the name Israel did actually appear on the globe, tucked just above Antarctica along with 12 other small countries **whose names were numbered on the map** and listed separately because of space considerations, including the Netherlands, Croatia and Lebanon”
In other words, there was no room to write the still-fictional (State of) “Palestine” and “Israel” in the space next to the globe, so they chose to put a number in for Israel and wrote Israel in the designated area elsewhere on the globe.
As long as both are on the map, I really don’t see the big deal with representing Israel with a number (as with The Netherlands et al) and the PA in text instead of representing Israel in text and the PA with a number, even if it was the less logical of the two choices. Both were on the map.